Women in computing

Caroline and I met with Ron Dillon and Annamarie Kelly of Stow College yesterday afternoon to discuss ways of encouraging women to take-up Computing/IT courses. We came up with a number of ideas including:

• focussed marketing for women
• a women's prize in IT
• promotion of women-friendly qualifications (such as Social Software, Interactive Media, etc.)
• approaching female organisations (such as the Girl Guides) to encourage young women to take-up technical careers.
  

The forthcoming meeting of the Sector Panel for Computing & IT will also discuss this issue.

I'd be interested in your comments about this problem (and these ideas).